Queen Elizabeth II opens Commonwealth summit

Queen Elizabeth II opened a summit of Commonwealth leaders Friday, a day after the 53-nation group suspended Pakistan for failing to lift a state of emergency and end military rule.

The monarch, ceremonial head of the Commonwealth of Britain and its former colonies, addressed dozens of presidents and prime ministers gathered in the Ugandan capital for the three-day summit.

The queen said the organization was committed to “addressing the great preoccupations and concerns of our times.”

“No single society has achieved perfection, and there is no single recipe for success,” she said. Absent was Pakistan’s President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

On Thursday night, Pakistan was suspended from the Commonwealth after Musharraf failed to meet a deadline to lift a three-week-old state of emergency and step down as army chief.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon said a committee of foreign ministers had suspended Pakistan “pending restoration of democracy and rule of law in the country.”

Kampala, Friday, AP